Hello, everyone! I hope that the last two weeks for you have been just as great as they have been for me - because that would mean that they have been fantastic! I'm sure that you remember Elizabeth's announcement from not too long ago, how she got a scholarship to Germany for a school year. Well, I too had applied for the scholarship, and just over a week ago my family got a call saying that I also had gotten the scholarship - meaning we are both going to Germany for the school year next year! I am over the moon with excitement, and couldn't be happier.

I wish I could say the same thing about a book I read recently, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. It is not that it was bad - I just feel that all the excitement and all of the hype that was being placed on it last summer was not entirely warranted.

I first started this as an audiobook, but then eventually lost interest in it, and stopped listening. I then picked it up as a physical copy of the book from my school library last week, and finished reading it in one night. I had wanted to write a review right then and there, but it was midnight, and I was tired, and I thought it best to let my thoughts boil and formulate into something (hopefully) more comprehensible than had I written it right then and there.

The voice and the style of the writing at times can be a bit startling in it's description. The description used by the narrator, Cadence, is abrupt and often metaphorical - except you can often find yourself not realizing that it is a metaphor until it has been delivered and you are just staring at the page in shock. In the beginning of the book, Cadence describes her father leaving her family, packing the car, pulling out a pistol and shooting Cadence in the chest, leaving her heart lying on the ground. I didn't understand it to be a metaphor, and it took me aback for a moment - and things like that were throughout the entire story. I liked it, though - it was unique, something I had not seen before.

I do not want to say much about the story, I do not want to summarize this book, because it is just one of those books that is good to go into without knowing what is going to happen. It is part of the ride. It is one of those books that you are not sure if the narrator is reliable or truthful. You know that the narrator believes whole-heartedly what they are saying, but you do not know if what they are saying is the actual reality, which is an added touch to this book that makes it different from most of the other books that I have read.

I found this book to not really have a climax that is built up to. For me, at least, the first three quarters of the book were pretty much on one level as far as the excitement goes - it is more of a book of curiosity and interest and confusion. The book has a big situation that drastically affected Cadence's life in it - but Cadence can't remember it, and her family remains tight-lipped about the events surrounding that period of time. In the last quarter, maybe a little less, of the book Cadence starts to thread things together, but both the reader and Cadence remain clueless about what happened until right at the end where a huge shocker of a bomb is dropped, and Cadence finally remembers what happened. This is the part that had me disappointed. I had heard multiple times that there was a huge plot twist - and technically it is one, but it did not feel that way. It felt more like the author had two different stories: one that you have been reading up until the end, and then a totally different one with the same characters on a totally different path than the first one. It did not feel like a plot twist, but rather a change of stories.

Overall the writing is good, but I was not a big fan of the book for its other details. It was a bit underwhelming for me, and even though it is the kind of a story that I usually enjoy, an exploration of a single idea, a pursuit of a single answer, an exploration of the mind - I did not particularly like this one. The main thing that kept me was the promise of a plot twist, which I did not end up a fan of (although I am not ashamed to admit that I did shed a tear or two over it). Someone else might enjoy this, but I probably won't read this again.

Once again, I hope that you all have had an amazing week, and that the coming one is even better! Try to take the time to enjoy a good book, and like always, stay addicted!-Jason

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Authors

Jason and Elizabeth are brother and sister book addicts who somehow manage to get along (most of the time). They reside in Canada with their dog Becky, and one (slightly insane) fly-hunting cat named Fish. Oh. And their parents. They're important too.